Mr. Scott goes to Washington - Act One, Scene Three: Lions and Tigers and... Panda Bears? Oh my.
As I write this, the sun has just set on another glorious day in the District. These last two days have passed in a flurry of activity, and I expect more of the same for tomorrow. The weather's been magnificent, although a little hot for my liking.
Yesterday, Claire, Kristina (and her roomate), and I went to the barbeque in Arlington that I had mentioned previously. There we chatted briefly with their roomates, and with mine, before taking off for an afternoon at the National Zoo.
So, we rode the subway the farthest north I'd yet been, and wandered up Connecticut Ave. to the zoo. The zoo's a pretty neat place, with some of those ornate and classically designed zoo buildings that years of working at that God-forsaken Safari had made me forget.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) one of the two famous Panda Bears at the zoo had recently given birth. So, the mother and cub had been removed from the exhibit, leaving only one Panda, Tian Tian, wallowing in his own filth. While he was cool to see, I think it might have been better to see a couple of them interacting. A number of other animals were also missing, apparently due to a combination of the heat and ongoing construction.
There were, however, a number of really interesting animals. The highlights for me, of course, were the elephants and hippos (as I'm sure you know, I'm all about the fat animals). The best though, were the pygmy hippos. They were only like half a ton and ridiculously adorable. Don't worry, I took movies of them on my digital camera, and will be happy to share. There were also some pretty cool boar-type things from South America.
After leaving the zoo, we walked all the way down Connecticut Ave. to Dupont Circle. The walk was awesome: we went over this beautiful bridge with giant lion statues at either end, and past a number of fancy buildings which contain what I can only assume to be luxurious apartments. In fact, I think I've found my future home in a rounded French-looking building called the Dresden.
Down near the circle we stopped for coffee before taking the metro home. We must have been on our feet for at least 8 hours. I was so wiped that when we returned home I retired for the evening and finished my book on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (RLJ would be proud!) before bed. I know. Wild man.
Today, we did the requisite national mall/monuments seeing. We started off at the Washington Monument, before walking through the WWII memorial on the way to the Lincoln Monument. After that, we accidentally stumbled upon the Vietnam Memorial, which I had forgotten about, but am certainly glad to have seen. I was especially moved by a simple bouquet of flowers left there, at the bottom of one of the many panels of names.
After that, we made our way up to look at the White House, and then we wandered around for a while looking for a place to get lunch. After eating, we headed to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Claire's like me - she reads just about every plaque and comment - so we spent about 3 hours seeing less than half of the museum.
The museum contained what I believe to be the real Oscar the Grouch muppet, as well as the famous Star-Spangled Banner that inspired the poem that inspired the national anthem.
They also had this amazing section on the Presidents of the USA, including a lot of cool election stuff. Then there was a really informative section on the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education. In the gift shop I almost purchased a little bust of Ronald Reagan, but quickly thought better of it.
Finally, we met Claire's roommates and one of their friends for dinner in Chinatown. As luck would have it, Washington has the world's largest single-span Chinese Arch (apparently), which we walked under on our way to the restaurant. After a pleasant dinner, we came home to relax, having again spent almost all of the day on our feet.
Tomorrow we're possibly going to see some kind of sculpture exhibition with one of Claire's roommates, who is an art history major. If that doesn't pan out, I'm definitely feeling the National Air and Space Museum. I suppose I'll keep you posted.
Yesterday, Claire, Kristina (and her roomate), and I went to the barbeque in Arlington that I had mentioned previously. There we chatted briefly with their roomates, and with mine, before taking off for an afternoon at the National Zoo.
So, we rode the subway the farthest north I'd yet been, and wandered up Connecticut Ave. to the zoo. The zoo's a pretty neat place, with some of those ornate and classically designed zoo buildings that years of working at that God-forsaken Safari had made me forget.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) one of the two famous Panda Bears at the zoo had recently given birth. So, the mother and cub had been removed from the exhibit, leaving only one Panda, Tian Tian, wallowing in his own filth. While he was cool to see, I think it might have been better to see a couple of them interacting. A number of other animals were also missing, apparently due to a combination of the heat and ongoing construction.
There were, however, a number of really interesting animals. The highlights for me, of course, were the elephants and hippos (as I'm sure you know, I'm all about the fat animals). The best though, were the pygmy hippos. They were only like half a ton and ridiculously adorable. Don't worry, I took movies of them on my digital camera, and will be happy to share. There were also some pretty cool boar-type things from South America.
After leaving the zoo, we walked all the way down Connecticut Ave. to Dupont Circle. The walk was awesome: we went over this beautiful bridge with giant lion statues at either end, and past a number of fancy buildings which contain what I can only assume to be luxurious apartments. In fact, I think I've found my future home in a rounded French-looking building called the Dresden.
Down near the circle we stopped for coffee before taking the metro home. We must have been on our feet for at least 8 hours. I was so wiped that when we returned home I retired for the evening and finished my book on the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (RLJ would be proud!) before bed. I know. Wild man.
Today, we did the requisite national mall/monuments seeing. We started off at the Washington Monument, before walking through the WWII memorial on the way to the Lincoln Monument. After that, we accidentally stumbled upon the Vietnam Memorial, which I had forgotten about, but am certainly glad to have seen. I was especially moved by a simple bouquet of flowers left there, at the bottom of one of the many panels of names.
After that, we made our way up to look at the White House, and then we wandered around for a while looking for a place to get lunch. After eating, we headed to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Claire's like me - she reads just about every plaque and comment - so we spent about 3 hours seeing less than half of the museum.
The museum contained what I believe to be the real Oscar the Grouch muppet, as well as the famous Star-Spangled Banner that inspired the poem that inspired the national anthem.
They also had this amazing section on the Presidents of the USA, including a lot of cool election stuff. Then there was a really informative section on the famous case of Brown v. Board of Education. In the gift shop I almost purchased a little bust of Ronald Reagan, but quickly thought better of it.
Finally, we met Claire's roommates and one of their friends for dinner in Chinatown. As luck would have it, Washington has the world's largest single-span Chinese Arch (apparently), which we walked under on our way to the restaurant. After a pleasant dinner, we came home to relax, having again spent almost all of the day on our feet.
Tomorrow we're possibly going to see some kind of sculpture exhibition with one of Claire's roommates, who is an art history major. If that doesn't pan out, I'm definitely feeling the National Air and Space Museum. I suppose I'll keep you posted.
posted by Scoops at 8:58 p.m.
1 Comments:
...just to let you know, I am sooo jealous reading of your meanderings - so you've got that going for you. Did you try any odd flavored/odd coloured drinks today? I am missing the gastronomic portion of your blog. If you live in your dream home, with your great good looks, will you become a Dresdan Doll? Heehee
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